1958 American League

The Yankees won their fourth straight pennant, and then the World Series, in an unimpressive league. The Yanks were not dominant, winning but 92 games, but finished 10 ahead of second-place Chicago which was only 82-72. Boston was 3rd, Cleveland 4th, and Detroit 5th, followed by Baltimore and Kansas City, with Washington last tallying 93 losses. No real great or terrible teams in the league. The Yankees were the best hitting team in the league by a safe margin, and best by a slim margin at keeping runs off the board.

Ted Williams won the batting title at .328, ahead of Pete Runnels at .322, and led in OPS. Rocky Colavito led in slugging. Mickey Mantle led in homers with 42, edging Colavito's 41, and in runs with 127. Jackie Jensen won the MVP by topping the RBI list with 122, followed by Colavito at 113. Luis Aparicio led in steals with 29. Nellie Fox had 187 hits, Harvey Kuenn 39 doubles, Vic Power 10 triples. Mantle also led in walks and was 2nd in OPS.

Bob Turley had a wide lead in wins, with 21 victories while Billy Pierce was 2nd with 17. Whitey Ford led in ERA by a wide margin with a 2.01 mark, followed by Billy Pierce at 2.68. Early Wynn led in strikeouts with 179, just ahead of Jim Bunning's 177. Ryne Duren led in saves with 20 to Dick Hyde's 18.

Win Shares leaders, players; Mickey Mantle (New York) 39, Rocky Colavito (Cleveland) 32, Bob Cerv (Kansas City) 29, Jackie Jensen (Boston) 27, Pete Runnels (Boston) and Roy Sievers (Washington) 26, Ted Williams (Boston) and Minnie Minoso (Cleveland) 25, Al Kaline (Detroit) 23, Nellie Fox and Jim Landis (Chicago) 22, Sherm Lollar (Chicago), Frank Bolling and Harvey Kuenn (Detroit) and Yogi Berra and Norm Siebern (New York) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Jack Harshman (Boston) and Billy Pierce (Chicago) 22, Frank Lary (Detroit) 21, Billy O'Dell (Baltimore) and Whitey Ford (New York) 20, Dick Hyde (Washington) 19, Dick Donovan (Chicago) and Bob Turley (New York) 18, Arnie Portocarrero (Baltimore) and Paul Foytack (Detroit) 16.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Mantle 10.4, Colavito 9.1, Cerv 7.5, Kaline 6.7, Gus Triandos (Baltimore) 6.1, Fox and Gil McDougald (New York) 5.9, Runnels 5.8, Jensen 5.7, Lollar and Luis Aparicio (Chicago) 5.6, Bolling and Siebern 5.1, Minoso 5.0, Berra 4.7.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Hyde 8.1, Harshman 7.5, Camilo Pascual (Washington) 6.7, Pedro Ramos (Washington) 6.4, Pierce 6.3, Lary 6.1, O'Dell 5.5, Portocarrero 5.3, Gary Bell (Cleveland) 4.6, Irv Delock (Boston) 4.5, Ford and Foytack 4.3.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Mantle 9.2, Colavito 7.0, Kaline 6.8, Cerv 6.6, Runnels 6.0, Jensen 5.9, Minoso 5.4, Siebern 5.0, Williams 4.8, Power 4.6, Lollar 4.4, Sievers 4.3, Aparicio 4.0. Pitchers (bWAR): Lary 6.5, Pierce 5.1, Pascual 4.4, Ford 4.3, Harshman and O'Dell 4.1, Donovan 3.9, Wilhelm 3.7, Hyde 3.6, Turley 3.5.

Actual award winners:
MVP: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---+----
1 Jackie Jensen BOS 9 233 336 0.69 | 548 157 35 .286 .931 9|
2 Bob Turley NYY 7 191 336 0.57 | 88 12 2 .136 .378 0| 21-7 245 2.97 1.247 168 1
3 Rocky Colavito CLE 4 181 336 0.54 | 489 148 41 .303 1.024 0| 0-0 3 0.00 1.000 1
4 Bob Cerv KCA 3 164 336 0.49 | 515 157 38 .305 .963 3|
5 Mickey Mantle NYY 0 127 336 0.38 | 519 158 42 .304 1.035 18|
6 Roy Sievers WSH 0 95 336 0.28 | 550 162 39 .295 .900 3|
7 Ted Williams BOS 0 89 336 0.26 | 411 135 26 .328 1.042 1|
8 Nellie Fox CHW 1 88 336 0.26 | 623 187 0 .300 .710 5|
9 Sherm Lollar CHW 0 57 336 0.17 | 421 115 20 .273 .821 2|
10 Pete Runnels BOS 0 29 336 0.09 | 568 183 8 .322 .854 1|
11 Gus Triandos BAL 0 27 336 0.08 | 474 116 30 .245 .782 1|
12 Dick Hyde WSH 0 26 336 0.08 | 18 0 0 .000 .100 0| 10-3 103 1.75 1.136 49 18
13 Harvey Kuenn DET 0 24 336 0.07 | 561 179 8 .319 .815 5|
14 Cal McLish CLE 0 18 336 0.05 | 64 6 0 .094 .337 0| 16-8 226 2.99 1.258 97 1
15 Vic Power TOT 0 15 336 0.04 | +590 184 16 .312 .822 3|
16 Frank Bolling DET 0 10 336 0.03 | 610 164 14 .269 .720 6|
17 Elston Howard NYY 0 9 336 0.03 | 376 118 11 .314 .827 1|
18 Yogi Berra NYY 0 6 336 0.02 | 433 115 22 .266 .790 3|
18 Minnie Minoso CLE 0 6 336 0.02 | 556 168 24 .302 .867 14|
20 Al Kaline DET 0 5 336 0.01 | 543 170 16 .313 .864 7|
20 Gil McDougald NYY 0 5 336 0.01 | 503 126 14 .250 .705 6|
22 Ryne Duren NYY 0 4 336 0.01 | 13 1 0 .077 .371 0| 6-4 76 2.02 1.096 87 20
23 Frank Lary DET 0 3 336 0.01 | 88 15 1 .170 .436 0| 16-15 260 2.90 1.218 131 1
24 Jack Harshman BAL 0 2 336 0.01 | 82 16 6 .195 .757 0| 12-15 236 2.89 1.181 161 4
25 Dick Donovan CHW 0 1 336 0.00 | 80 9 0 .112 .341 0| 15-14 248 3.01 1.181 127
25 Frank Malzone BOS 0 1 336 0.00 | 627 185 15 .295 .754 1|

Jensen won a fairly close vote and his biggest claim to fame. After another year, he would be out of the game due to a fear of flying. He would come back after a year away, but the spark was gone.

Cy Young: 1st Max | Season Results
Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+
1 Bob Turley NYY 5 5 16 0.31 | 21-7 245 2.97 1.247 168 1
2 Warren Spahn MLN 4 4 16 0.25 | 22-11 290 3.07 1.148 150 1
3 Lew Burdette MLN 3 3 16 0.19 | 20-10 275 2.91 1.195 113
3 Bob Friend PIT 3 3 16 0.19 | 22-14 274 3.68 1.314 135

Turley beat the three NL candidates, although he hardly pitched in September. Rumors varied from arm trouble to resting him for the World Series to holding down his win total for contract reasons.

Rookie of the Year: 1st Max | Season Results
Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Albie Pearson WSH 14 14 24 0.58 | 530 146 3 .275 .712 7|
2 Ryne Duren NYY 7 7 24 0.29 | 13 1 0 .077 .371 0| 6-4 76 2.02 1.096 87 20
3 Gary Bell CLE 3 3 24 0.12 | 56 11 0 .196 .512 0| 12-10 182 3.31 1.176 110 1
Little Pearson beat out the hard-throwing Duren.

Top player: Mickey Mantle was completely dominating the league at this time. There wasn't another player really close. Two of the other best, Cerv and Jensen, were CF he had run off from New York.
#1 Mickey Mantle, #2 Rocky Colavito, #3 Bob Cerv, #4 Jackie Jensen, #5 Al Kaline, #6 Pete Runnels.

Top pitcher: Whitey Ford in a "pick 'em" kind of year. Ford was the leader in ERA, WHIP, and shutouts, although he was only 14-7. Casey Stengel used to pitch Whitey in the toughest games, and that would sometimes cost him wins. Jack Harshman had great WS and WARP numbers, but was just 12-15.
#1 Whitey Ford, #2 Frank Lary, #3 Billy Pierce, #4 Bob Turley, #5 Jack Harshman.

Top rookie: Albie Pearson had the best overall rookie season. His .275 average was buoyed by 64 walks to a .354 OBP, and he played strong defense.

Top manager: Casey Stengel, partly because there is no other pick.